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Parents Beware of Finstagram

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You have surely heard of Instagram, the photo sharing social network, but what about “Finstagram?” If you are like most parents, you have rules about the social media practices of your kids. However, once you learn about Finstagram, those might all go out the window.

When you combine the words “fake” and “Instagram,” you get Finstagram. Essentially, these are fake, or alternative, Instagram accounts that are created by teens, for the most part. These accounts can be used for harmless laughs, such as sharing embarrassing pictures with your close circle of friends, or for harmful deeds, such as hiding alcohol or drug use from parents. Finstagram accounts are also commonly used for bullying.

You can look at your child’s Instagram account and see the innocent angel that you believe you have raised. But, do they have a Finstagram account that shows a different side? It’s possible, and you might even be able to find it by using the Find Friends feature on the software. Of course, it’s possible that your child has linked their Finstagram to a new email address or even name.

On top of all of this, kids are using Finstagram accounts to do things that would never be acceptable on their “real” Instagram accounts. For instance, there have been instances where these fake accounts are used to post inappropriate or altered photos of their classmates in inappropriate situations. In some cases, things get so serious that the schools, themselves, have to contact Instagram to get the accounts shut down.

Even if you think that you have nothing to worry about with your own kids, it might be worth it to do a check on them. You can certainly ask your child if they have an account, and they might be forthcoming and tell you. Odds are, however, that they won’t. In fact, about 90% of Finstagram accounts are unknown, so it is the parent’s responsibility to look for the signs.

Parent should have all passcodes to access the device and its applications. Or the child can’t have a phone. Non-negotiable. Done deal.

Sit down with your child to talk about their usage of social media, and the repercussions of their actions on social media. You also might want to talk to other parents you know about Finstagram accounts. These accounts might be for innocent fun, but they could also ruin someone’s life.

Robert Siciliano personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.

Hey Kids, the Internet is FOS

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The internet is a beautiful place. It is the way we communicate, the way we create, and the biggest business platform that has ever been generated. However, it is also a hazard, as anyone can put anything on it, and it’s extremely difficult to tell fact from fiction…especially if you are a kid.

A Stanford study looked at the ability, or inability in this case, of almost 8,000 students to tell fake news stories from real ones. The results, to be blunt, are terrible. When focusing on the students who were in middle school, 80 percent of them were unable to tell the fake news from the real stories, and they didn’t get better as they got older. When the researchers looked at high schoolers, they really fared no better, and more than 80 percent of them accepted that fake pictures were true without question. The results of this study should scare us all.

Part of the problem here is that we don’t have enough gatekeepers to fact check, edit, or vet the news that is going out there. Anyone with a computer can create a very realistic looking news site, and essentially, they can create stories about whatever they want. As you have probably noticed during the election, many adults also get caught up in the fake news that’s out there, and if adults can’t discriminate between what’s real and what’s fake, how can we expect children to?

The writers who create these fake news stories are very skilled, and when you put them up against the minds of others, especially children, it’s really not a fair fight. These students have to be taught how to use the internet, and it has to be soon. Kids are using the internet as young as two or three years old, and by the time they get to school, they can navigate the pages of the web better than many adults.

Speaking of school, how does the concept of internet literacy fit in with the typical curriculum in schools? Internet literacy, online behavior, reputation management, security and fake news are part of the same puzzle.

When computers first began to be commonplace in schools, most students took a class to learn how to use the mouse, keyboard, and basic programs. Now, these acts are usually learned before a child even gets to school, and the classes that are taught teach kids how to not only work a computer, but also how to be a good online citizen. The problem is, however, is that these classes are not given the same focus as other educational standards.

Further complicating things is that many teachers believe that teaching these concepts is not their responsibility. Instead, they believe that it is the job of others, such as the librarian, teacher’s assistant, or IT person.

If students are taught to consider what the intentions of the writer, or even the sources are, they will be able to eventually learn to sense the bias they have. When children can understand this concept, they can then learn about how news and other information gets from the writer to the readers. The internet creates a totally new concept for how news travels, and we all must recognize that when we click, we ultimately create a trail for more information to follow.

Will this new instruction be enough? We have reason to have hope. For instance, some social media outlets, such as Facebook, have recently announced that they will take steps to eliminate a lot of this fake news. Additionally, if we look at the history of humanity, when new innovations are introduced, such as when the printing press was invented, we, as humans, saw improvements in our lives.

It is also quite promising that children are not making the same mistake that their parents have made…they aren’t on Facebook much, which is where most of these fake news stories are found. Instead, children are in Instagram, YouTube, SnapChat and others. This information has been backed by a number of sources, and one study shows that teens are not using Facebook for their news. Instead, they are getting news from television or on Snapchat, which has recently rolled out a news delivery feature.

The bottom line here is that the original study from Stanford is disheartening, but there is a glimmer of hope since kids these days aren’t getting their news from the same places as the previous generation, like Facebook. Instead, they are using a mixture of traditional and digital sources that will likely help them to become more informed.

Robert Siciliano personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.

4 Completely Different Ways to Share Photos

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Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, people took pictures of the Tyrannosaurus Rex with film-based cameras that required them to drop their pics off at a Fotomat for processing. Then, instant pics in the form of Polaroid cameras came along and the term “instant gratification” was born. Today, most of us snap pics on phones because cameras are just another device that we don’t want to carry.

Now, documenting a person’s day, week, month, year, vacation or any event consists of hundreds if not thousands of photos because digital is easy and free. So what’s the best way to share all your pics in a fun, friendly and secure way? Well, that all depends on your lifestyle.

  • Facebook: When taking pics from your phone, you can easily upload and instantly share your images with your connections. The beauty of Facebook photos is that all 3,000 of your friends can enjoy them and comment on them. Using your PC is even easier when you are uploading entire albums. The bad thing is, once you upload to Facebook, you can’t expect the photos to ever be private. Even though you might lock down your privacy settings so only your friends can see them, it’s still very possible that your pics can be leaked.
  • Flickr: Flickr is a photo sharing site that you can always have in your back pocket via apps for iPhone, Windows 7, Android and more. Or use m.flickr.com from any mobile device to upload and share photos on the go. Share photos only with the people you want to with Flickr’s easy privacy settings. Flickr’s backed storage system makes sure you never lose another photo again.
  • Instagram: Share your photos in a simple photo stream with friends to see – and follow your friends’ photos with the click of a single button. Every day you open up Instagram, you’ll see new photos from your closest friends, and creative people from around the world. Share to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr too – it’s as easy as pie. It’s photo sharing, reinvented.
  • Dropbox: Most people don’t think of photo sharing when they think about Dropbox because Dropbox isn’t explicitly a photo sharing site. Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring together all your photos, docs and videos from anywhere. This means that any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, phones and even the Dropbox website.

All of these sites require usernames and passwords for access. And like all web-based portals, I suggest a different password for each. If you install an application on your mobile, make sure your device is password protected. Another layer of protection (albeit inconvenient) is to set up these apps to require a password every time you access them.

Robert Siciliano, is a personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto and author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! . Disclosures